List of glider pilots
This list of notable glider pilots contains the names of those who have achieved fame in gliding and in other fields:
Notable in gliding[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d7/Ehrenhalle.jpg/220px-Ehrenhalle.jpg)
The "Ehrenhalle" at the Wasserkuppe, featuring a larger than life statue of Otto Lilienthal lying on an empty tomb, a tribute to all who have died in gliding.
- Ruth Alexander - female altitude record breaker, first woman glider instructor in the U.S.
- Sergei Anokhin - test pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, glider instructor, recordsman and gliding promouter in the USSR and Turkey, on October 2, 1934, carried out a flutter test with deliberate in-flight destruction of RotFront-1 glider and safe parachute escape after the glider disintegration.[1]
- Bill Bedford test pilot - first to fly Hawker P.1127 and Harrier.
- Luca Bertossio - Champion glider aerobatic pilot
- Paul Bikle - NASA director, glider altitude record setter and Soaring Hall of Fame
- William Hawley Bowlus - first American to break Wright brothers' 1911 gliding record, designer of first military prototype glider the XCG-16A, superintendent of construction of the Spirit of St. Louis and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/1911_Wright_Glider.jpg/220px-1911_Wright_Glider.jpg)
October 24, 1911: Orville Wright soared above Kill Devil Hill for 9 minutes 45 seconds, breaking their previous record of 1 minute 12 seconds set in January 1903 with the 1902 glider.
- Anne Burns - British champion, holder of multiple records, aerospace engineer
- Janusz Centka - multiple world champion[2]
- Jackie Coogan - actor, former WW2-era combat Glider Pilot
- Adela Dankowska - held 12 world records and 43 Polish records during her career
- Anthony Deane-Drummond - major-general & British national champion
- Heini Dittmar - test pilot (first person over 1000 km/h) and gliding record breaker
- Wilhelm Düerkop - glider aerobatic champion
- Richard C. du Pont - director of military glider program
- Einar Enevoldson - test pilot and gliding record breaker
- Markus Feyerabend - glider aerobatics champion
- Steve Fossett - entrepreneur and gliding record breaker[3]
- Nicholas Goodhart - world champion, record breaker and inventor of the Mirror sight deck landing system
- Tadeusz Góra - gliding record breaker, first winner of the Lilienthal Gliding Medal
- Hans-Werner Grosse - 46 world records[4]
- Doris Grove - female world record breaker, first woman to fly 1000 km, and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member [5]
- Julius Hatry - glider designer
- Barron Hilton - hotel magnate and founder of the Barron Hilton Cup for gliding[6]
- Wolf Hirth - German gliding pioneer and sailplane designer
- Klaus Holighaus - glider designer and European Champion
- Hans Jacobs - glider designer
- Dick Johnson - 11-time U.S. National Champion, glider distance record setter and Soaring Hall of Fame
- Sebastian Kawa - most wins (5+3) in World Gliding Championships
- Joachim Kuettner - atmospheric scientist and gliding record breaker
- Thomas Knauff - author, instructor, world record breaker, and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member [7]
- Robert Kronfeld - Austrian gliding champion and sailplane designer
- Jean-Marie Le Bris - pioneer of French aviation
- George Lee - three time world champion, ex-RAF
- Otto Lilienthal - German machine engineer, first controlled gliding flights to 250 m
- Paul MacCready - aviation inventor, devised the MacCready Theory on speed to fly[8]
- Edward Makula - world champion, 7 world records
- Jerzy Makula - six time world glider aerobatic champion[9][10]
- Peter Masak - U.S. Soaring Team member, developed the first practical winglets for sailplanes
- Mike Melvill - Spaceship One test pilot, first commercial astronaut[11]
- Willy Messerschmitt, aircraft designer, including gliders
- George Moffat - author, two-time world champion, and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member[12]
- John J. Montgomery - U.S. physicist, first controlled glider flight in U.S., and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member
- Story Musgrave - astronaut on a Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, CFI-Glider
- Klaus Ohlmann - 36 world records,[13] member of the Mountain Wave Project[14]
- Derek Piggott - author, flight instructor and movie stunt pilot[15]
- Joan Meakin Price - first woman to glide over the English Channel (1934).
- Helmut Reichmann - German professor, author and three-time gliding world champion
- Hanna Reitsch - test pilot and breaker of several gliding records[16]
- Ingo Renner - four time world champion,[17] two world records,[18] flight instructor
- Peter Riedel - gliding champion
- Cliff Robertson - actor and soaring activist[19]
- Martin Schempp - glider designer and pilot
- Richard Schreder - naval aviator and developer of the HP/RS-series kit sailplanes marketed from 1962 until about 1982.
- Peter Scott - naturalist (founder of World Wildlife Fund and ex-chairman of British Gliding Association)[20]
- Wally Scott - world record breaker, U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member, and multi-time recipient of the Lewin B. Barringer Memorial Trophy[21][22]
- Geoffrey H. Stephenson - first person to cross the English Channel in a glider
- Karl Striedieck - world record breaker, and U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame member [23]
- Wolfgang Späte - Inventor of the theory of speed to fly, Luftwaffe ace and test pilot
- Kurt Student - Luftwaffe general, developed glider infantry concept, commanded WW2-era Fallschirmjäger
- Dennis Tito - gliding speed record holder, aerospace engineer and investment manager[24]
- Oskar Ursinus - gliding pioneer and designer
- Gerhard Waibel - glider pilot and designer
- Ann Welch - instructor and administrator
- Philip Wills - world champion and administrator
- Wright Brothers - early glider pioneers, invented 3-axis flight control on 1902 glider, set world glider duration record in 1911 (also widely credited with inventing the airplane)
- Jan Wróblewski - World Champion in 1965 and 1972; FAI Lilienthal Medal 1972
Other notable people known to have flown gliders[]
- Sir John Allison - RAF Officer, former Commander in Chief Strike Command
- James Allison - F1 Engineer, Technical Director Scuderia Ferrari
- Neil Armstrong - first man on the moon, astronaut[25][26]
- Richard Bach - author
- Wernher von Braun - American-German aerospace engineer[27]
- Paul Bulcke - Nestlé CEO (2007–present)[28]
- Barbara Cartland - author[29]
- Kalpana Chawla - astronaut
- John Denver - singer/songwriter
- Hugh Downs - television news anchor
- Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank - British architect[30]
- Matthew Fox - actor[31]
- Christopher Foyle - owner of Foyles Bookshop[32]
- Andy Green - World Land Speed Record holder[33]
- Erich Hartmann - most successful fighter pilot of all times (352 confirmed victories)[34]
- Will Hay - British comic actor[35]
- Ralph Hooper - British aeronautical engineer famous for the Hawker Siddeley Harrier and BAe Hawk[36]
- L. Ron Hubbard - founder of the Church of Scientology[37]
- Marsha Ivins - astronaut
- Sir David Jason - actor[38]
- Amy Johnson - pioneer in aviation, member at Yorkshire Gliding Club from 1937[39]
- John Kerry - U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate[40]
- Sergei Korolev - father of the Soviet space program
- Charles Lindbergh - winner of the Orteig Prize as pilot on first solo nonstop Atlantic crossing flight[41]
- William S. McArthur - astronaut
- Richie McCaw - former All Blacks captain [42]
- Steve McQueen - actor, star of The Thomas Crown Affair (1968 film)[43]
- Arseny Mironov - Russian aerospace engineer and aviator, scientist in aircraft aerodynamics and flight testing
- James H. Newman - astronaut, holds private pilot certificate (glider)
- Sir Paul Nurse - President of the Royal Society
- Robert Pearson - airline pilot and glider pilot who glided a Boeing 767 to safety[44]
- Christopher Reeve - actor[45]
- Michel Rocard - French former prime minister.[46][47]
- Martin Shaw - actor[48]
- Alan Shepard - astronaut on first Project Mercury space flight
- Chesley Sullenberger - captain of US Airways Flight 1549 which ditched in the Hudson River
- Peter Twiss - test pilot and former holder of the World Air Speed Record
References[]
- ^ Krasilshchikov, Alexander (1991). Soviet gliders (PDF). Mashinostoryeniye. ISBN 5-217-01048-7. Retrieved 2018-01-05.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "FAI awards of Janusz Centka". Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
- ^ "Link to Steve Fossett's glider altitude record". Retrieved 2006-09-01.
- ^ "FAI World Records by Hans-Werner Grosse". Archived from the original on 2005-11-24. Retrieved 2007-01-11.
- ^ "FAI World Records by Doris Grove". Archived from the original on 2007-10-07. Retrieved 2006-12-11.
- ^ "FAI article on the Barron Hilton Cup". Archived from the original on 2006-10-10. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "FAI World Records by Tom Knauff". Retrieved 2006-12-10.[dead link]
- ^ "Link to Paul MacCready bio". Archived from the original on 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "Jerzy Makula's rankings in FAI world and european championships". Retrieved 2007-01-11.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "FAI Centenary Medal recipients". Archived from the original on 2007-03-04. Retrieved 2007-01-11.
- ^ "Mike Melvill bio". Archived from the original on December 24, 2005. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "FAI World Records by George Moffat". Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
- ^ "FAI World Records by Klaus Ohlmann". Archived from the original on 2006-08-12. Retrieved 2007-01-11.
- ^ "Mountain Wave Project". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-01-11.
- ^ Piggott, Derek (2002). Gliding: A handbook on soaring flight. A & C Black. ISBN 0-7136-6148-8.
- ^ "Bio of Hanna Reitsch". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "SSA: World Soaring Champions". Archived from the original on 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
- ^ "FAI: world records of Ingo Renner". Archived from the original on 2005-11-24. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
- ^ "National Aviation Hall of Fame article on Cliff Robertson". Archived from the original on 2007-06-18. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "Bio of Sir Peter Scott". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ Soaring Hall of Fame (2011). "The Soaring Hall of Fame - Alphabetical Listing". Archived from the original on 8 October 2006. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
- ^ Leibacher, John (2009). "The Lewin B. Barringer Memorial Trophy". Retrieved 25 February 2011.
- ^ "FAI World Records by Karl Striedieck". Archived from the original on 2007-10-07. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
- ^ "Soaring Cafe announcement of new speed record". Retrieved 22 September 2014.
- ^ "CBS interview with Neil Armstrong includes clip of gliding". CBS News. 2005-11-03. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "Being The First Man On The Moon, Ed Bradley Talks To Neil Armstrong About Fame, Family And Apollo 11 - CBS News". 2005-11-03. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
- ^ "Wernher von Braun".
- ^ "Das Schweizer Wirtschaftsmagazin bilanz.ch". Retrieved 19 November 2014.
- ^ "Barbara Cartland biography". Archived from the original on 2006-08-18. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "Interview in The Guardian". TheGuardian.com. 29 June 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
- ^ "Bio of Matthew Fox". Archived from the original on 2006-04-26. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "Interview in The Independent". Independent.co.uk. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
- ^ "Chairman of the Four Counties Gliding Club". Retrieved 14 September 2014.
- ^ "New York Times article on Erich Hartmann, Oct 23 1993". The New York Times. 1993-10-23. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ Mark McKay Laugh Magazine Issue 22 2001
- ^ "National Life Stories (in association with British Library)" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-12-21.
- ^ "RON, Adventurer/Explorer - Spinning in by L. Ron Hubbard (Part 2/4)". adventurer.lronhubbard.org. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
- ^ "article in Nottingham Post". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
- ^ "Yorkshire Gliding Club". Archived from the original on 2012-11-09. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
- ^ "Boston Globe article on John Kerry". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "Article on glider flight by Lindbergh". Archived from the original on March 16, 2005. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ Gallagher, Brendan (2006-12-14). "Daily Telegraph report 17 Dec 2006". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
- ^ "Evidence that Steve McQueen was a glider pilot". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "Description of the Gimli glider accident". Archived from the original on 2006-08-19. Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "Interview with Christopher Reeve". Retrieved 2006-09-26.
- ^ "Bio of Michel Rocard (in French)". Retrieved 2006-09-26.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Michel Rocard, un homme moderne".
- ^ "Appeared on BBC programme Sporting Chance". YouTube. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
Categories:
- Gliding
- Glider pilots
- Lists of pilots